Hi All,
Some sitters may not be aware of this THS glitch, so I thought I’d mention why I always make sure I name each pet I’ve sat for in my review to help future sitters.
I did a sit last year, looking after 2 dogs and 2 cats.
One of the dogs, let’s call him ‘Bob’, had undisclosed behaviour issues.
For the next few sits the HO decided not to include Bob, so it was just 1 dog and 2 cats BUT the reviews for those sits all automatically registered on the system as 2 dogs and 2 cats. Those reviews for the 3 animals were all 5 stars. But if the sitter didn’t name the pets in their reviews any future sitters would assume they looked after 4 pets with no issues.
But, when Bob was introduced into the housesit again the reviews were marked down and sitters expressed concern at Bob’s challenging behaviour.
I’m finding it hard to explain. Surely THS can fix this tech glitch and the actual animals that the sitters sit for are then reflected in the review.
In the meantime, I’d urge all sitters to list the names of the pets in their review so future sitters can make an informed and safe choice. Most may do this anyway but I wanted to raise the issue here. 
On a similar note, and I know this has been bought up before, the App shows all sits that the HO has hosted, so future sitters can see when a review hasn’t been left. Why doesn’t the website show the same? That would be SO helpful.
Thank you for bringing this up. I recently completed a sit that had two 5 star reviews. Only one dog. However, not till I arrived for the sit did the HO inform me that the dog peed in the house. A lot, as I was to find out. It was the dod’s way of showing her displeasure at being left at home (which only occured if leaving her in the car to run errands would have been dangerous due to weather). She couldn’t be left in the yard due to non stop barking. The owner stated in the profile that she was crate trained, but no crate to be found.
My frustration is the 5 star reviews by previous sitters with no mention by either previous sitter regarding this behavior. I can understand to a point wanting to leave a kind review, but there is a way to do that and be truthful at the same time and alerting future sitters what they should expect. My review was kind and also pointed out the dogs behavior with helpful suggestions to the HO on how to manage the behavior. I followed up with the HO privately with other concerns and suggestions and they were very appreciative ( they even sent me a gift certificate post sit).
Honest reviews with compassion and kindness is important. Anything less does no one any favors.
I agree Julie. I think there are a lot of 5 star reviews because people are afraid of retaliation. It feels passive (aggressive ?) avoidance, that inconveniences everyone to the realities of sitting.
The previous 5 star reviews could have been when sitters were nervous that, if they were honest about pets’ bad behaviour, they would get a bad review from the owner. Now we have the blind review system it’s not an issue, so sitters and owners can feel freer to be honest and mark people down if necessary